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Buying Religious Statues in Katmandu

Here’s a lesser-known proverb to remember if you happen to find yourself in Katmandu: Always look a gift Buddha in the ear.

If the ears of any image or icon representing the Enlightened One aren’t unusually long and don’t smoothly flow downward, it should be added to your list of worldly possessions to discard immediately. When you’re shopping for Buddhas, the ears have it.

That’s just one of the pearls of local wisdom you might receive from Saroj Shakya, owner of Statue Maker’s Shop in the Hotel Padma.

Situated next to a giant Buddhist stupa (temple), in the city’s Boudhanath district, the jewel-box boutique has garnered enthusiastic fans in Buddhist monasteries in Katmandu and around the globe for its exquisitely wrought metalwork. Even some boldfaced Buddhists have been won over. Richard Gere once dropped by and took home a miniature gilded stupa. Last November, Cher popped in and left with two statues of Tara, the female avatar of universal compassion.

Photo

Credit
Seth Sherwood for The New York Times

Though the neighborhood is full of Buddha statues, like those below, Mr. Shakya’s are made by specially contracted craftsmen who work from their homes in the Katmandu suburb of Patan. Each has a specialty — designing, casting, carving, gold-plating, painting — and a given piece moves from house to house as if along a spiritual assembly line.

The end products range from silver Lilliputian prayer-wheel pendants and Buddhas the size of Monopoly pieces (from 150 rupees, or $1.85 at 81 Nepalese rupees to the dollar) to an extremely ornate 25-inch statue of Manjushri (250,000 rupees), the avatar of wisdom in Tibetan Buddhism. The store’s specialty, eight-inch Buddhas, average around 7,000 to 9,000 rupees, depending on the amount of gold plating. Most of the statues are cast from an alloy of copper, tin and silver.

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To judge a piece, Mr. Shakya said, the main thing to scrutinize is the carving — face, hands, dress folds — and of course the ears.

“When the design isn’t perfect but the carving is done well, that compensates for the design,” he explained, pointing to a Buddha with the exquisite detailing of a Flemish master’s canvas. “But even if the design is good and the carving is not done well, it’s like a beautiful person wearing ugly clothes.”